kill v. murder v. assassinate

To kill is to cause the death of a living thing. Killing can be deliberate or accidental, and the victim needn’t be human. Murder is the deliberate, unlawful killing of a human being. Assassination is the murder of prominent people by surprise attack, especially for political, religious, or ideological reasons. Assassination is a specific type of murder, and murder, in turn, is a specific type of killing.